“I’m feeling good. It’s great to be able to come back and play in front of Quebec fans again, especially since I haven’t had the chance to do it since training camp last year,” explained the Knights’ captain, who was lucky enough to soak up some sun on his team’s day off on Monday. “We needed a day to rest. It was important to be able to recuperate a bit and get away from the arena and the hotel. I think we were all glad to get out into the sun for a while yesterday.”

After pulling off a convincing win against the Sea Dogs, downing the St. John’s squad 5-3, Tinordi and the Knights had a tougher run against the hosting Shawinigan Cataractes, who handed them a difficult 6-2 loss in their second game. Heading into Tuesday night’s action, every team in the tournament is currently posting a record of one victory and one loss.

“Every team is going to be playing their third game. For us, it’s definitely going to be our most important one of the season. I’m not sure if there’s ever been a Memorial Cup that’s been this close, but it’s really exciting so far,” pointed out the Canadiens’ first-round draft pick of 2010, a few hours before squaring off against the Oil Kings. “It’s tough to prepare for this kind of game. You do the best work you can to analyse what you need to do and strategize for the game, but once it starts, it’s all about making sure to stick to the game plan. From what I’ve seen they play a lot like us. They’re fast, but they also have a good goaltender and solid defense.”

Their tilt against the Oil Kings will be hugely important for the Knights as they, along with all the rest of the teams in the tournament, will be gunning for a first place finish heading into Sunday’s finals.

“It’s a really short tournament, so if you end up losing a game, you absolutely need to be able to put it behind you and find another gear. That’s why it’s important to make the most of your day off. You can’t just sit around the hotel all day dwelling on the loss. It’s good to step back for a minute so you can jump back in fresh,” concluded Tinordi, who currently leads the Knights with a plus-2 differential.

Vincent Cauchy is a writer for Canadiens.com. Translated by Justin Fragapane.